If you’re looking for an extra moist carrot cake recipe, this is for you! This is the BEST carrot cake because it its rich texture, spiced flavor, and smooth cream cheese frosting. It can also be made as a tall three layer cake or a wide two layer cake and can be decorated however you like!

Carrot cake from scratch
If you’ve never had homemade carrot cake, meaning not from a box or pre-made, then get ready to have your mind blown. You’ll be making carrot cake from scratch every year from here on out.
It starts, very obviously, with the carrots. Do not buy the bags of pre-shredded carrots as those aren’t grated finely enough. Also make sure to buy organic carrots. I find they have much better flavor and texture than regular.
Start by rinsing and pealing your large carrots (not baby carrots). Using a box grater, grate using the second largest holes. You’re wanting it to grate like a fine shredded cheese.
It takes about 5-6 large carrots to get the amount you need. Once you fill up 2 1/2 cups worth, set it aside.

What spices are in carrot cake?
Next, we want to whisk together the dry ingredients. Carrot cake is typically made with a combination of warm spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. It closely resembles a spice cake but with more moisture from the carrots.
For this carrot cake recipe, we’re using cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. I found this combination lended the best flavor. Whisk together in a bowl along with salt, flour, and baking soda.

How to make a moist carrot cake WITHOUT pineapple
A little trick some like to do with their carrot cake is add some crushed pineapple. It adds tons of moisture but I like to have that carrot flavor stand alone. So here’s what I do to make a SUPER moist carrot cake without any fruit!
The two simple ingredients that makes this cake amazing are the oil and Greek yogurt. I love using oil in cakes because not only does it make your cake moist, but it also STAYS moist for much longer than if you used butter.
That’s because oil is 100% fat where butter is around 80%. But, it’s important to use butter in cakes that don’t have other flavors included.
For example, we use butter in a plain vanilla cake because you’re able to actually taste the flavor of the butter. Otherwise, it would just taste like an oil cake. Since we’re using carrots and spices in this cake, you don’t notice the oil flavor and get to reap all the benefits of its delicious texture.
Greek yogurt also adds to the perfect texture of this cake. Most cakes might use buttermilk or whole milk. Because I’m using Greek yogurt, it makes the cake moist without making it too soft. If it’s too soft, it might fall apart when stacking.

Baking your carrot cake
Once we’ve mixed together the sugars, eggs, oil, vanilla, Greek yogurt, carrots, and dry ingredients…your cake is ready to bake!
I used 3 round 6″ cake pans for this recipe. You could also use 2 round 8″ pans but keep an eye on it until it’s done.
To get the PERFECT carrot cake layers, I love to use cake strips. You dampen and wrap them around the cake pans before baking.
This prevents the outside of the pan from heating up too quickly, thus lending a cake that is evenly baked all the way through. Plus, it gives you flat cake layers so you don’t have to slice anything off the tops.
It’s also important to not overfill your cake pans. Each should only be filled about 2/3 full. If your cakes sink in the middle, this could be due to overfilling or over mixing the batter.
It’s done when the edges start to pull away from the pan and a toothpick stuck in the center of the cake comes out clean with a few moist crumbs.

How to frost and speckle your cake
First and foremost, do not frost your cake until it is COMPLETELY cooled. After they’ve cooled in the pan, pop them onto a cooling rack for about 20 minutes. Then, wrap your layers in plastic wrap and place them in the fridge for at least 1 hour. This makes stacking your cake much easier.
When frosting the cake, spread about 1/2-3/4 cup of frosting between each layer. Once stacked, place it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes so that the frosting layers can firmed up. For more information on how to frost a cake using cream cheese frosting, check out my Cream Cheese Frosting 101 post.
Continue frosting the outside of your cake. Smooth out your sides and place the cake back in the fridge for another 30 minutes. Now with the remaining frosting, separate a few spoonfuls into two dishes.
In one dish, add one to two drops of green gel food coloring. I high recommend gel food coloring because it gives you the biggest color pay off with a minimal amount of dye. To give it a more natural green hue, dip a toothpick in brown gel food coloring and add a swatch to the green.
Do the same using orange and brown gel food coloring to dye the other bowl of frosting. Place the bowls in the refrigerator to thicken while the cake chills.
Transfer the colored frosting to two separate piping bags, each fitted with a small around tip. First pipe on the carrots in a scattered and random pattern. Then follow them up with two tiny lines of green above each carrot, which act as the stalks.
Finish off the cake with a light sprinkling of finely chopped walnuts and your carrot cake is complete!

For more cake recipes:
- Cookie Dough Cake
- Fudgy Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Spice Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- Mint Chocolate Chip Cake
- Toasted Coconut Chocolate Cake (GF)
Make sure to tag me @butternutbakery on Instagram if you make this Carrot Cake recipe. I love seeing my recipes come to life in YOUR kitchen! To pin this recipe and save it for later, you can use the button on the recipe card, the buttons above or below this post, or on any of the photos above. Happy baking!
Print
Perfect Carrot Cake
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes + 1 hour chilling
- Yield: 10–12 slices 1x
Description
This is truly the BEST EVER carrot cake recipe. It’s incredibly moist, perfectly spiced, and smothered in cream cheese frosting. It’s the only carrot cake recipe you’ll ever need!
Ingredients
Carrot Cake
- 2 1/2 cups (245g) finely grated organic carrots
- 2 cups (255g) all-purpose flour, spooned into the cups then leveled
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp clove
- 1 cup (220ml) vegetable or canola oil
- 3/4 cup (170g) light brown sugar, packed
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (190g) Greek yogurt or sour cream
Cream Cheese Frosting
Frosting Carrots
- Orange gel food coloring
- Green gel food coloring
- Brown gel food coloring
- 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
Instructions
Carrot Cake
- Wash and peal your carrots. Grate them using the medium-sized holes on a box grater. It should resemble very finely shredded cheese. Measure out 2 1/2 cups into a bowl and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to to 350F and grease 3 round 6″ cake pans or 2 or 3 round 8″ cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a round sheet of parchment paper and, if you have them, wrap the pans with dampened cake sleeves.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oil and sugars.
- Once combined, mix in the eggs, vanilla, and Greek yogurt.
- Fold in your dry ingredients and just before it comes together, fold in the carrots as well.
- Evenly distribute your batter between the cake pans.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Let the cakes cool in the pan for about 20 minutes then turn them out onto a cooling rack to cool for another 20 minutes.
- Wrap each layer individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour. Chilling the layers makes it much easier to frost. You can also chill the cakes overnight and frost the next day.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- While the cake chills, make your cream cheese frosting. If it’s too thin, chill the frosting for about an hour to thicken.
- To assemble, level off the tops of each cake using a cake level. Then, spread a thin and even layer of frosting between each cake.
- Spread a very thin layer of frosting around the entire outside of the cake (also known as the crumb coat) and chill for 30 minutes.
- Apply a thick layer of frosting around the chilled cake and then spread it even. See my post on how to frost a layer cake for more details.
- With any remaining frosting, you can pipe swirls on top of the cake and/or add carrot decorations all around the outside. Separate a few spoonfuls of the frosting into two dishes. To one, add one to two drops of green gel food coloring and a tiny toothpick swatch of brown. To the other, add one to two drops of orange gel food coloring and a tiny toothpick swatch of brown.
- Transfer the colored frosting to two separate piping bags fitted with small around tips. Pipe tiny carrots all around the outside of the cake, followed by the green carrot stalks. Sprinkle with finely chopped walnuts and then chill the cake for an hour to set.
- Now slice and enjoy!
Keywords: carrot cake, best ever carrot cake, carrot cake recipe
The most perfect carrot cake!! So gorgeous! Love those speckled plates too! Been looking for something similar forever!!!
★★★★★
Aw thank you so much Kasey! I got the plates from Boston Potter 🙂
OMG the speckles are everything! What an excellent detail
Thank you! They’re so fun to do
Do you think I could use extra virgin olive oil for this?
Yes you could! Just be prepared to also have the flavor of olive oil in the cake.
I made this and it was really moist and yummy! I reduced sugar though. And I like this cake. Thank you!
★★★★★
Making this for Easter!!!
Hi!
I can’t wait to try this recipe for our Easter Sunday party. I just have one question though. Is it okay if I used less amount of powdered sugar for the cream cheese frosting? Would this affect the flavor and consistency of the frosting?
Thanks a bunch!
Its perfect for Easter Sunday!! Unfortunately your frosting will turn out too thin if you use less powdered sugar and with a layer cake, it needs to be a bit thicker to hold the structure. What you can do is bake this into a sheet cake in a 9×13 inch pan and increase the bake time by a few minutes. That way, your frosting can be a bit thinner since you’ll only be frosting the top of the cake. I hope this helps!
I am making this for my Birthday cake next week 🙂
Yay!! Let me know how it goes!
Could I use dairy free cream cheese for the frosting and almond milk Greek yogurt for the cake? We have dairy allergies?
Thanks!
I haven’t tested it, but you may need to use more sugar to thicken it.
I have it in the oven right now! But im using two slightly bigger pans ( thats all i have 😂) so ill be watching it closely for when its ready xD ill let you know how did it go ;D
Thank you, this cake is delicious as promised! I’ve been a follower for a long time, and this is the first of your recipes I’ve tried! I’m glad you reposted to your Instagram recently. It’s the perfect finish to our Super Bowl menu. (Not
A football fan, but can get down with eating party food in front of TV with friends). I made into cupcakes vs a layer cake, only to make serving guests a little easier, and I added nuts because I enjoy the crunchy texture. Thanks again!!
★★★★★
Ah yay! Such a good idea to make it into cupcakes 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed it!
If I use 9” pans and just two layers should I bake for the same amount of time? Thx
Bake for about 10 minutes less, but test with a toothpick just to be sure
The carrot cake is so delicious! Made it for our birthday family dinner. It worked perfect! I reduced the sugar- only 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar. The frosting was perfect with only 1 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. I used grounded vanilla beans for the speckles in the frosting. That saved a lot of time.
I think it will be the cake of the year and my brother asked me to make it for his birthday!
★★★★★
Oh that vanilla is so smart! So glad you love it!
Looks delicious! I’m thinking of making this for Easter, but with just me and my husband at home I would maybe cut the recipe in half and make cupcakes…. would that work? Do you the baking time difference or any other adjustments? Love your blog!
Yes, cut the recipe in half and fill the cupcakes about halfway. Bake for about 20 minutes.
Have you tried it gluten free? Or do you not think that gf flour would work? I love that you have gluten free recipes and thank you so much for that.
I haven’t tested it so I can’t say for certain that it would work! You best bet would be to bake it with GF flour with xanthan gum and bake it in a 9×13 sheet pan for about 35-40 minutes.
This looks delicious!! For the yogurt I got coconut greek yogurt & honey & cream Greek yogurt. It’s going down in about 30 minutes!! Thank you for sharing!
Oh that sounds delicious!
This looks so good! I’m a big carrot cake fan. I was wondering what plates you used in your pictures? I love them!
Thanks! They’re from boston potter
Hello! Does anyone have any tips on adapting this for high altitude (Denver)? Thank you, in advance.
Hi! Excited to make this. Question – would it be crazy to put most of the the batter in two 6 inch pans and then the rest in a cupcake pan? I want to make a small cake for me (for my birthday) but I also want my husband to be able to enjoy it and he hates cream cheese frosting (while I loooove it). Normally I would just make all cupcakes and leave some unfrosted, but I really want to make a cute little cake. Disaster or probably ok?
That should be fine! Just don’t overfill the cake pans. They should be about 2/3 full.
Excited to try this out on a snowy afternoon! Would you recommend cupcakes or would a 9×13 pan work out instead of 3 six inch pans?
Definitely cupcakes! It should take about 15-20 minutes to bake.
Thank you for another yummy recipe! I used two 8″ light colored cake pans; don’t have 3 of the 6″ pans quite yet! My cakes baked 34 mins, and they came out perfectly. For the filling, I added cinnamon, extra vanilla bean paste and about a tablespoon of powdered sugar. I thought it would be fun to make more dishes dirty.
This cake is perfectly moist without being dense or oily. The carrot flavor comes through beautifully, so that you don’t need the pineapple, raisins, coconut, applesauce and whatever else people add in. The only huge problem I have with this cake… I keep craving more!! It’s soooo good! Thanks again for another really great recipe!!
★★★★★
Can I use 2 of 9 inch rounds pan if I can how llong I bake them for
Yes they should bake roughly the same amount of time.
Does it matter what type of Greek yogurt I use? We typically have plain nonfat but wondering if the nonfat aspect will have an effect on the cake. I could get a different kind if necessary!
Can I use milk instead of Greek yogurt?
I haven’t tested it but it should be OK
Hi! if you make the whole recipe as cupcakes, about how many will it make? Deciding if I should half it or not. Thanks!
I’m actually posting a carrot cupcake recipe this week so I recommend using that! It should be up on Thursday.
What kind of brown sugar? Dark or light?
You can use either but I used light brown!
Hi Jenna! Do you have a rec for what type of Greek Yogurt is best? Plain Whole or Plain Non-Fat?
Thank you, can’t wait to make this for Easter!!
Sorry for the delay! Either will work, but I recommend whole.
I’m excited to try this! How long in advance can I make it?
You can make this a couple days in advance and keep the layers wrapped and refrigerated.
Hi Jenna! I am looking forward to using your recipe for Easter! I am looking to bake the cake tomorrow, however, I only have two 10” pans available. Would that be okay for this recipe? If so how long would you say I should bake?
Sorry I’m so late! But yes this is fine, as long as you keep your eye on the layers as they bake because they’ll probably bake a bit quicker in larger pans.
hi Jenna!
Can I use 5 inch cake pans?
Yes, you just may have to omit about a cup of batter to prevent the pans from overfilling.
Made this carrot cake for Easter, everyone loved it! Literally none left! I loved the fun decorating too! I am definitely an amateur baker, but the decorations were easy! So moist and delicious! I added chopped walnuts inside the cake as well. Also the cream cheese frosting was so good! Thank you!
★★★★★
Yay thanks for sharing!
Excited to make your carrot cake this weekend! Will melted coconut oil or avocado oil work in this recipe?
Yep those should be OK
I never ever leave recipe reviews, but I just had to for this carrot cake. It is incredible and has been the biggest hit at Easter every year. Even my 6 and 8 year old nieces were asking if I was going to bring the carrot cake again 🤣
Thank you so much for this delicious recipe!
Yay! Thanks for sharing!!
Hello Jenna,
I made this recipe last weekend and it was so delicious!
I was wondering, do you know for how long can I keep this cake in the fridge? cut and uncut?
I have read a lot of different information about cakes with cream cheese frosting and now i’m confused.
★★★★★
Uncut it can keep for quite a few days, about 7. But uncut you can get about 5 days out of it. Just make sure it’s in an air tight container. Hope this helps!